Warrant: Hartford Man Threatens Life Of Person Selling Phone

WEST HARTFORD — After purchasing an iPhone via Craigslist with fake $20 bills, a Hartford man threatened to kill the seller who was demanding the phone back, according to the warrant for his arrest.

Kevon Ferrell, 21, was arrested on Sunday and charged with first-degree robbery, sixth-degree larceny, first-degree forgery, first-degree reckless endangerment, and second-degree threatening, according to the warrant. He was arraigned at Hartford Superior Court on Monday, according to court records.

Ferrell had called a man who listed an iPhone 5C for sale on Craigslist on Aug. 11, according to the warrant. The two decided to meet later that evening at the Walmart Neighborhood Market on North Main Street in Bishop's Corner at Ferrell's suggestion, the warrant says.

At the market, the two agreed on a sale price of $400 for the phone, which Ferrell counted out in $20 bills from inside white envelope, the warrant says.

Ferrell dropped the envelope in the man's car and then went into the store, at which point the victim determined the bills did not feel correct and believed that they were fake, according to the warrant. As Ferrell left the store, the victim approached and demanded his phone back, the warrant says.

"I can kill you," Ferrell said, according to the warrant. The victim advanced toward Ferrell and continued to demand for his phone back. Ferrell, pulling a black handgun from his waistband, said: "I will kill you," according to the warrant.

As the victim backed off, Ferrell fled in a vehicle, the warrant says. The victim called police, who also noticed that the bills felt fake and that 19 of then had the same serial number, according to the warrant.

Detectives, following the phone number that called the victim to set up the meeting, met with a woman named Shaevonne Lewis-Ferrell, of 88 Fairmont St. in Hartford, according to the warrant. The number used to call the victim was that of her son, Kevon Ferrell, police said.

Lewis-Ferrell also identified Ferrell as the man in Walmart surveillance video of the incident, the warrant says. Police searching the home also found pants that matched the ones worn by Ferrell in the video, according to the warrant.

Ferrell also was a suspect in a similar crime in which an iPad listed on Craigslist was purchased with fake money, according to the warrant. Police said the $20 bills used in the iPad transaction carried the same serial numbers as those used to purchase the iPhone.